(no subject)

[sam_t]

We keep getting these playschool dawns. This morning, someone had scribbled over the green-blue sky in pink crayon.

Farah Mendlesohn (about whom I now know slightly more), is asking for SF readers to fill in this questionnaire on SF reading habits, specifically SF read when under 18. I was reading through the questions when I realised that I can't actually remember whether or not I read any SF at all as a child or a teenager. This surprised me, as I definitely read fantasy, I liked science and was fascinated by space exploration and astronomy. I can't imagine what would have stopped me reading it, but I really can't remember any if I did read it. Perhaps I just wasn't adventurous enough to try a whole genre that no-one had recommended to me. I'm going to be wondering all day whether I've forgotten any books, now.

My new office is crowded, as expected, but I've ended up with the desk at the back of the room by the window, which is a bonus. The corridors seem to be designed to thwart any sense of direction: they've got large bright coloured panels that look from a distance like doorways, and they twist in odd ways. I'm having to navigate by Picasso prints, which feels decidedly peculiar.

ETA: OK, so far I've got 4 or 5 Star Trek novels, 1984, The HitchHiker's Guide to the Galaxy and The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul. Still not very many.

Comments

[forthwritten.livejournal.com]

I read most of my SF when I was entering my teens. I wasn't interested in the usual teenage Point Horrors, romances and more normal young adult books, 'classics' didn't really engage me, the books we read in school were too easy and the library wasn't especially good. SF seemed to plug that gap by offering something that was aimed at adults but not hugely difficult. And it was about exciting things like telepathic six-legged dogs, spaceships and imaginary worlds rather than stuff like dating. Come to think of it, I probably read fantasy for much the same reasons.

I don't think I ever got completely obsessed as in able to reel off dozens of authors, but it seemed to be a bridge between childhood and adult reading.

[sam-t.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's exactly what I did with fantasy and crime. I couldn't stand the Judy Blumes. I just couldn't remember anything that was sci-fi as opposed to fantasy, although now I come to think of it there were at least a few Star Trek books.

What did you read?

[forthwritten.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I always though Judy Blume was overrated. I couldn't get into that sort of thing at all.

I know I got bored by the Star Wars books. I loved the films and trilogy books, so the expanded universe books annoyed me. It was like legitimised canon rape.
The tragic thing is that a lot of it was kind of trashy and disposable so I don't really remember lots of it. The one with the six-legged telepathic dog was called Star Dog and I read quite a lot of Anne McCaffery books. I think I preferred her other books to the Pern ones. Fantasy-wise, I read quite a bit of David Eddings and Stephen Lawhead.

What about you?

[sam-t.livejournal.com]

Off the top of my head: Tolkein, C.S. Lewis, Pratchett, Alan Garner, Mercedes Lackey, Tamora Pierce, Diana Wynne Jones, Tad Williams, David Eddings, Alan Dean Foster, George McDonald's Lilith, Helen Cresswell's Moondial ...

I read Eddings out of order, and went off him fairly rapidly once I read the bit about Polgara feeling "fulfilled" by cooking and then worked out that I didn't actually like the portrayal of any of his women. I didn't discover Anne McCaffrey until I was about 18, so haven't read very many.

[forthwritten.livejournal.com]

Tamora Pierce is great. She's still one of my guilty pleasures. Pratchett I didn't discover until later, and to be honest I think I get his sense of humour better now than I would have done when I was younger.

I'm not sure about Polgara. On one hand, it was great to see a female powerful character, and I liked the early scenes where she's a rebellious teenager but then it all goes wrong and she becomes this stereotypical mothering character who has her occasional strops. I found the attitude of 'let the little lady have her quirks, she's not a tough man rarr' annoying.

[sam-t.livejournal.com]

Exactly. Not that powerful figures can't want to be mothers, exactly, but it's a bit annoying when she's practically the only one. All of the women seem to be mothers, managing wives or annoying little girls, with the occasional fallen woman in there for variety. And they always go all mysterious about something trivial, and the men all roll their eyes and blame everything on hormones.

[forthwritten.livejournal.com]

Or they get pissed off, and all the men roll their eyes and blame everything on hormones.

I think this is why characters like Alanna and Daine were so refreshing. Even though we know that Alanna eventually married and had children, she's still presented as a tough warrior character. Having children hasn't suddenly made her want to stay at home, cook, clean and get on with weaving that tapestry.

[sam-t.livejournal.com]

I know exactly what you mean: one of the first fantasy trilogies that I read featured: a heroine who was intelligent and good with children; male and female characters who were good at fighting and some who weren't especially good at fighting but were still valued in the defence of the country; male and female characters in power; prejudice portrayed as present but both wrong and bad for the country; at least one homosexual relationship among main characters and some in 'history'; characters who loved sex, (young, admirable) characters who would rather have an academic position than a serious romance, teenage fumblings, and the aftermath of rape and sexual abuse by a father figure. That was a bit of a revelation at the age of twelve: the issues weren't treated in much depth, but it was a far cry from both 'standard' teenage fiction and the (mostly male) quest sort of fantasy. The friend from whom I borrowed the books still has a set: they're extremely well read and dogeared - and they're the replacement volumes.

Oh, and I forgot to say yesterday, assorted debates on fantasy and female heroines are linked to on whileaway, which is an interesting community in itself.

[forthwritten.livejournal.com]

This may just be me being dense, but what one was this?

[sam-t.livejournal.com]

The 'Arrows' trilogy by Mercedes Lackey. It's not the best work of fiction ever, and a lot of the appeal was admittedly the "shy girl fits in and helps to save the kingdom" aspect, but it was good to read something with a good variety of roles for women.